Kitchen Garden Forum

No pun intended, honest!

Top three tips to keep weeds under control - what are your preferred methods?

Remove surface weeds before seed heads form
Dig out deep root weeds (sorry advocates of "no dig")
Practice regularly throughout the year so that plot is clear for next Christmas break ......Hoe Hoe Hoe

I grow in raised beds in blocks rather than rows, so hand weeding for me, no hoeing done at all, heavy muclching with compost deters weeds a bit.

Dig out any weeds at the beginning of the year.
Keep the hoe working all through the year, while dry weather permits.
Dig over the ground in the Winter, burying any weeds that have grown over the Autumn.

I was busy weeding today, amongst other things. It is like the revolution, a constant struggle and victory remains just over the horizon.

*I find covering any empty beds over winter (or other times when not in use) with membrane or black plastic really helps. Even if down for a fairly short period I find the worms have broken the soil up quite a bit to make it easier to dig out the weeds.
*Use some membrane for paths, you have enough to do weeding beds without doing the same to non-productive areas. My first main path I did lasted 8 yrs & I just rolled the new path over the top after taking out he stones that had worked up over the years.
*I actually find weeding therapeutic, my fight against bindweed is non ending but the satisfaction gained from the bucket of tangled weeds going in the incinerator to burn is worth the graft even if only a temporary result!

No top tips really, just keep at it. I never dig weeds in, hand weed before I dig. I compost everything even if they have escaped to flower and seed which is probably why I find mulching ineffective, my compost simply isn't good enough to work so I dig it in. I do mulch the flower garden which makes it easier to weed!

I have ten raised beds I tend to grow through cardboard were possible but the flower beds and the large potato beds I hoe but not as much as I should